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Pacific decries global climate fund access, delays

26 May 2017

The world’s small island developing states (SIDS) including those in the Pacific are still facing issues with regards to access and timely disbursement of funds with the new Green Climate Fund. [restrict]

The message was heard loud and clear at a two-day meeting that preceded the United Nations biennial forum Mexico is hosting this week in its holiday city by the Caribbean Sea coast this week.

Presentations at the meeting by SIDS and members of the UN lobby group, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) showed that access to finance and delays in fund disbursement continued to hamper the implementation of GCF.

Fiji’s seven year long urban water supply and wastewater management project for instance was expected to cost US$222 million (approximately FJ$444 million). It was approved in November, 2015 but to this week, zero funds have been disbursed.

Samoa and Mauritius are reporting the same story with no disbursements of their GCF-funded water related projects of US$65.7 million and USD$8.2 million respectively. Both projects were approved by the board of GCF in December, 2016.

Fiji had estimated in its proposal paper that the water project would have benefitted some 291,000 people, particularly “women from vulnerable households.” That accounts to around 32.3 per cent of the island nation’s population. The idea was that once implemented the nearly half-a-billion water project would improve the livelihoods of people and communities, as well as health, food and water security.
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